


a love like religion

by gingergenower



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, the softest of boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 04:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12951555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergenower/pseuds/gingergenower
Summary: Magnus and Alec wake in each other's arms.





	a love like religion

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from Halsey's [Coming Down](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRXO77hJGKA)

Magnus’ eyes flutter open. He’s pressed along Alec’s side, head on his shoulder and arm slung across his chest, and the room glows gold with the sunrise. Smile soft, hazy and blinking, he watches Alec breathe too deep and slow to be awake.

He doesn’t remember Alec getting home, but he’s woken in Alec’s arms and there’s nothing in the world that could tempt him out of them.

His eyes close again, and he drifts.

Only waking fully when fingers draw runes on his forearm, Magnus shifts closer and presses a kiss to Alec’s shoulder. ‘Good morning, Alexander,’ he murmurs, and Alec turns his head, looking right at him.

The light catches in Alec’s eyes and they’re as bright as Magnus’ warlock mark- he frowns against the sunlight, but he doesn’t stop looking. ‘Good morning.’ Sleep-rough, still tired, he sounds like he only fell asleep a few hours before.

‘When did you get back?’

‘About four, I think. I did wake you up.’

Magnus shakes his head- it must have only been minutes, he can’t remember it at all- and lies his hand flat on Alec’s chest. ‘Should I leave you for a few more hours?’

‘No.’ Alec curls his fingers around Magnus’ hand, head rolling back into the pillow. ‘Stay.’

‘Of course.’

Absent-minded runes soothed into the back of Magnus’ hand, Alec feels far away and long ago, so Magnus asks because while he isn’t supposed to know about the mission, he isn’t supposed to know most of what Alec tells him. 

‘Did everything go well?’

‘Hm?’

‘Last night.’

Alec’s fingers pause. ‘It got complicated.’

‘Is that why you were late?’

‘Yes.’ Seeming to force himself into drawing the runes again, his next breath shudders. ‘Clary got hurt.’

He wouldn’t be here if she was anything but perfectly healthy, but Magnus knows how brilliantly Alec can twist himself into believing he’s guilty of something. Turning his hand over, Magnus threads his fingers through Alec’s. ‘What happened?’

‘She was protecting me.’

How very Clary of her. ‘Is she alright?’

‘She’s fine.’

‘Good.’ 

‘…I think I shouted at her.’

Magnus quirks an eyebrow upwards, glancing at Alec’s utterly blank expression. ‘Any reason?’

‘I was angry.’

‘Were you cruel?’ Alec has been, sometimes, to her.

He shakes his head slightly, eyes fixed on the ceiling. ‘I thought she was dying. I said she shouldn’t have done it.’

Magnus can imagine it, perhaps too well. She’s curled up on the ground and there’s blood and all Alec can do is scream at her because it might keep her awake, be enough to keep her alive.

‘You know you would have done it for her.’

‘I’m the head of the Institute. She’s my responsibility, it’s not the same.’

‘It is the same. You care about her.’

Alec looks at Magnus, searching his face for something, but Magnus only holds his gaze steady and sure back.

‘I thought she was going to die.’

‘I know.’ Magnus reaches up, cupping his cheek. ‘She’s not.’

Nodding, Alec closes his eyes and breathes out.

‘Please wake me next time you have a difficult night.’

‘Ok.’ He holds Magnus’ hand to his cheek like it’s important, and Magnus waits.

He will always wait for Alec.

After a few, even breaths, Alec looks to Magnus. ‘Will you see her and make sure there’s no lasting effects?’

‘Yes.’

Alec nods again, and leans in to kiss Magnus. It’s nothing more than a chaste press of lips, light and sweet, but it lasts.

There are a thousand different types of kiss, and Magnus thought he was a study in all of them. Relief plays a part in many- after fear, after fights, after a long day- but Alec kisses him like he’s relieved Magnus is there.

It’s a new kind of kiss. Magnus is still familiarising himself, but Alec is an excellent teacher.

When they part, they settle into holding each other. Magnus rests his cheek on Alec’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, and Alec draws runes on his shoulder blades.

‘I didn’t ask,’ Alec says, quiet as though shushed. ‘How was your night?’

‘Not nearly as dramatic as yours, I’m afraid.’ Alec huffs, and Magnus smiles against his stamina rune. ‘Quite uneventful.’

‘Some of us have responsibilities,’ Alec says, but he stifles a yawn and Magnus runs a finger along his collarbone.

‘Can I convince you to sleep a little longer?’

‘How much longer?’

‘A few more hours. We can go into the Institute together in the afternoon.’

Alec sighs, nose resting in Magnus’ hair. ‘Fine.’

Their eyes close, they murmur how they love each other, and they fall back to sleep.


End file.
